Running Head: BRAND EQUITY 1

Literature Review: Brand Equity

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Literature Review: Brand Equity

Introduction

Consumer brand awareness is key in marketing. Customers tend to buy more of particular

products because of the information about effectiveness they have compared to alternatives. for

instance, most consumers will buy more of Apple products because of the brand name and the

information they have about the general effectiveness of such products compared to others

offering similar services. Such decisions to buy a given product depend on brand name and not

the prices. According to Won and Kim (2020) in their study to determine the effect of consumer

motivation on purchase intention, they established that utilitarian, hedonic, and ecological factors

are key in consumer decisions making on whether to buy products. The researchers emphasized

the importance of consumer attitudes towards products on intentions to buy. Much of the

consumer attitudes that affect their buying decisions depend on the brand name and brand

recognition. Consumers tend to buy products based on the branding, attached importance, and

perceived benefits. In the modern context, companies are shifting their focus from the products

to the consumers. Firms emphasize the general consumer perceptions of their products and

services. to stay upfront with the consumer expectations regarding how organizations treat their

buyers, employees, and the environment, companies consider marketing initiatives that

contribute to brand awareness. Brand awareness is a factor of brand equity, which concerns the

level of sway an organization attached to its products and services to convince customers to buy.

To establish the meaning of brand awareness and its application in contemporary

marketing, a literature search was done. The literature search integrated publications from

business and marketing databases such as Business Source Complete, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of

Science, and Emerald. The search focused on journal articles published between 2015 and 2021.
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During the search process, keywords such as brand, brand awareness, marketing, consumer

perceptions, consumer attitudes, brand equity, customer loyalty, brand experience, purchase

intention, and consumer motivation were used. From the search, four peer-reviewed articles were

selected for the final review on brand equity and its importance in contemporary marketing.

What is Brand Equity?

In a study to establish the relationships between brand equity and brand loyalty,

Alkhawaldeh, Salleh, and Halim (2016) emphasized the importance of brand management and

awareness to the success of commercial organizations. According to the authors, different

scholars define brand equity differently. For instance, relying on the definition of Nam and

colleagues, the trio defines brand equity as the perception that consumers have towards products.

At the same time, Alkhawaldeh et al. (2016) add that brand equity is the added value with which

a given brand endows a product. Brand equity, when related to brand awareness is a vital concept

needed to improve brand loyalty. The definition and the affirmations of Alkhawaldeh et al.

(2016) inform that brand equity is the level of sway that a brand name has in the minds of

consumers and the value of having a brand that is identifiable and well thought of in the

consumer market. The definition attests that creating positive experiences and attaching them to

particular products is a successful strategy for achieving brand equity. Organizations outcompete

in the consumer market by ensuring that consumers develop sustained positive experiences with

their products. Companies achieve such by intensifying product of service awareness through

marketing campaigns that speak to target consumer values, attitudes, preferences, and needs.

Concurrently, Jeon (2017) while investigating the impact of the brand concept on brand

equity recognized the latter concept as an intangible asset that promotes firm performance. The

author maintained that brand equity impacts brand loyalty and the financial value of companies
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because of its direct connections with consumer purchasing behavior and attitudes. Jeon (2017)

opined that brand equity is defined in terms of the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the

brand. In essence, the author maintained that brand equity is evident when certain outcomes that

result from the marketing of a product or service due to its brand name would not occur if the

product or service did not possess the name. At this point, Jeon’s definition concurs with that of

Alkhawaldeh and colleagues because both recognize the role of the brand name in persuading the

consumers and changing their attitudes to buy a particular product or seek a particular service

from a company. Jeon (2017) maintained that brand equity is all about the emotional connections

that an individual customer has with particular products or services that convince them to buy

such items despite other regulating factors such as price. In brand equity, the brand name

operates as a sole factor that convinces the consumer to buy and use a product. Therefore, brand

equity concerns creating consumer brand awareness and attaching positive experiences on the

use of products to match consumer needs, preferences, tastes, and attitudes.

Brand Equity and Consumer Buying Intent

The definitions by Jeon (2017) and Alkhawaldeh et al. (2016) open a new window of

discussion on the importance of brand equity in consumer loyalty, buying intent, and

organizational performance. Consumer buying intention depends on several factors including but

not limited to consumers’ attitudes and perceived price. In a study to determine the impact of

brand equity drivers on consumer buying behavior and intentions, Raza, Frooghi, Rani, and

Qureshi (2018) emphasized that buyer based perspective of the brand value is most imperative

because consumers establish the satisfactory level and extent of a particular product. The authors

attested that consumer decisions to buy or reject a product in the market depend on the product's

image in the market. Companies are relying on such an assumption in paying special attention to
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diagnose, identify, and understand consumer intentions and purchase behaviors deeply. In line

with brand equity and its effects on consumer buying behavior, Raza et al. (2018) noted that

brand personality traits are key influencers in the process. According to the authors, brand

personality traits are classified into five dimensions including sincerity, excitement, competence,

sophistication, and ruggedness. Companies and brands intending to attract the attention of

consumers must display the five domains with sincerity focusing on honesty, wholesomeness,

and cheerfulness, and excitement based on a product being daring, spirited, imaginative, and up

to date. Raza and colleagues also associated competence with the ability of a brand to be reliable,

intelligent, and successful and sophistication trait with being the upper class and charming. For

ruggedness, the authors identified that brands must be tough and outdoorsy. Raza et al. (2018)

contended that the success of different brands in the contemporary markets depends on the brand

equity metrics they put in their marketing. Successful companies focus intensively on creating

greater customer awareness of their products and services and ensuring that consumer

experiences with the items are positive. Based on this line of argument, brand equity is a strategy

that companies can use to attract and retain consumers, thus a critical aspect of consumer buying

behavior.

Basing their arguments on the assumptions of the Theory of Reasoned Action, which

establishes that subjective norms are the basic determinants of intentions formation, Shah, Adeel,

Hanif, and Khan (2016) maintained that brand equity is a potential force in consumer buying

intentions and decision making. The researchers started their study by defining purchase

intention as the possibility that consumers will plan or be willing to purchase a certain product or

brand in the future. The authors maintained that brand equity is a condition for brand preference

and therefore a determinant of purchase intention. As per the theory of reasoned actions, Shah et
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al. (2016) noted that brand equity metrics such as perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand

association, and brand awareness determine purchase intentions. The authors emphasized that

people intend to buy particular products because of the societal acceptance of such items in the

larger public domain. In this regard, purchase intentions depend on the individual brand

connections, experience, and value attached to the products. Consumers tend to buy more of a

product when they are convinced that such items are of high quality, and meet their specific and

unique needs, preferences, and tastes. Therefore, all marketing decisions in the consumer market

should focus on creating a high presentability value of products to increase brand awareness and

increase consumer attachment, which ultimately affects purchasing intention.

Conclusion

Overall, brand equity emphasizes the overall value of a brand from the consumer

perspective. Customers buy different products and services from particular companies based on

several factors. Price is a leading factor that helps consumers in making purchasing decisions.

However, in the modern marketing context, brand equity, defines the added value and the

convincing ability that a brand gives to consumers, despite product prices being higher. Brand

equity is concerned with brand awareness and the attached fulfillment that a customer believes

he/she will get from buying and using particular products or services. For this reason, companies

should base their marketing processes in customer-specific domains to increase brand awareness,

and offering in the consumer markets.

References
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Alkhawaldeh, A.M., Salleh, S.M., & Halim, F.B. (2016). Brand equity and brand loyalty: new

perspective. International Review of Management and Marketing, 6(4), 722-730.

Retrieved from https://econjournals.com/index.php/irmm/article/view/2659

Jeon, J-E. (2017). The impact of brand concept on brand equity. Asia Pacific Journal of

Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 11(2), 233-245. doi 10.1108/APJIE-08-2017-030

Raza, M., Frooghi, R., Rani, S.H.B., & Qureshi, M.A. (2018). Impact of brand equity drivers on

purchase intention: a moderating effect of entrepreneurial marketing. South Asian

Journal of Management Sciences, 12(1), 69-92. doi: 10.21621/sajms.2018121.04

Shah, S.M., Adeel, M., Hanif, F., & Khan, M. (2016). The impact of brand equity on purchase

intensions with moderating role of subjective norms. Universal Journal of Industrial and

Business Management, 4(1), 18-24. doi: 10.13189/ujibm.2016.040102

Won, J., & Kim, B-Y. (2020). The effect of consumer motivations on purchase intention of

online fashion-sharing platform. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business,

7(6), 197-207. doi:10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no6.197